One of the most unpredictable elements of fantasy basketball is injuries. Sure, some players are more likely to get injured than others, but even that can surprise you.
Take, for example, the barrage of recent injuries to NBA centers. We’d expect to see injuries to Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming, given their history. But both are playing healthy as ever (even if Shaq does skip some games). However, season-ending injuries to Chris Kaman, Elton Brand, Al Jefferson, Andrew Bogut and the long absences of Carlos Boozer and Andrew Bynum are being felt across the fantasy basketball leagues. And it hurts.
Even Marcus Camby has been relatively healthy. Next thing you know, Andris Biedrens will be out for the season and Dwight Howard will be injured in a freakish 12-foot dunking accident.
You heard it here first.
The real NBA All-Stars have been announced, but what about the fantasy basketball studs? These are the guys provide excellent shooting percentages and keep the turnovers down, or contribute so well across the board that a 4-game week is most likely a W.
While fantasy basketball owners don’t care if a player is in the Western Conference or the Eastern Conference, for getting the fantasy basketball All-Stars I divided them anyway.
To obtain the All-Stars, I simply took the top composite rankings from essential fantasy basketball tool Ziguana and the popular Yahoo! Fantasy NBA. If a player did not have a composite ranking of less than 60 (average rank of 30), they were not included.
How to read this: [POSITION] [PLAYER NAME] ([ZIGUANA RANKING],[YAHOO RANKING])
WEST STARTERS
- G Chris Paul (1,1)
- G Kobe Bryant (5,5)
- F Dirk Nowitzki (6,4)
- F Al Jefferson (11,11)
- C Marcus Camby (7,7)
WEST BENCH
- G Jason Kidd (8,9)
- G Chauncey Billups (10,10)
- G Jason Terry (17,16)
- F Amar’e Stoudemire (26,15)
- F Tim Duncan (27,30)
- F Kevin Durant (12,13)
- C Nene Hilario (32,25)
Honorable Mention: G Brandon Roy (16,21), Manu Ginobili (29,27), C Yao Ming (34,23)
EAST STARTERS
- G Dwyane Wade (4,6)
- G Ray Allen (21,17)
- F LeBron James (2,2)
- F Danny Granger (3,3)
- C Chris Bosh (22,22)
EAST BENCH
- G Vince Carter (19,29)
- G Jose Calderon (30,14)
- G Jameer Nelson (24,18)
- F Rashard Lewis (9,12)
- F Kevin Garnett (13,8)
- F Antawn Jamison (14,20)
- C Troy Murphy (20,38)
Honorable Mention: F Gerald Wallace (15,24), G Mike Bibby (18,28)
It appears that the West has the guards and the East has the forwards. Yao Ming tied with Nene Hilario for the C in the West, so I gave it to Nene given that Yao Ming is set to be injured any second now 
.
Posted by
John Date:
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Categories:
Fantasy Basketball Advice
Tags:
The 2009 NBA All-Star reserves have been announced. The level of talent in the NBA right now is extraordinary, and several deserving players were on the outside looking in. First, though, here’s the full rosters:
EAST STARTING 5
- Dwight Howard
- Kevin Garnett
- LeBron James
- Allen Iverson
- Dwyane Wade
EAST RESERVES
- Chris Bosh
- Danny Granger
- Rashard Lewis
- Paul Pierce
- Joe Johnson
- Jameer Nelson
- Devin Harris
WEST STARTING 5
- Yao Ming
- Tim Duncan
- Amare Stoudemire
- Kobe Bryant
- Chris Paul
WEST RESERVES
- Shaquille O’Neal
- Pau Gasol
- Dirk Nowitzki
- David West
- Tony Parker
- Chauncey Billups
- Brandon Roy
If I were to make a couple of switches, I would have Ray Allen instead of Joe Johnson; otherwise the East looks good (with Rajon Rondo getting consideration). In the West, I would have Al Jefferson instead of Shaquille O’Neal, and I would have considered Carmelo Anthony or Paul Millsap ahead of David West. In the end, I probably would have left him in. He’s definitely underrated.
Devin Harris, Danny Granger and Jameer Nelson are making their first All-Star appearances. Nobody in the West is a first-timer. As well, nobody on either team is currently injured. Give it time …
Posted by
John Date:
Friday, January 30, 2009
Categories:
NBA News
Tags:
NBA All-Star Game, NBA News
